Seven rubbed her eyes as she entered the shared girls bathroom of Class Zero in Akademeia. She was usually the first in the morning to be here; that way she could enjoy the quietness of the morning – on of the perks of being an early riser – but today it wasn't like that; today someone else was here already. Sice stood in front of a sink, a toothbrush in her hand, weary eyes and her hair already put up in this messy ponytail of hers. It was unusual to see Sice at this early hour, but Seven didn't make a big fuss out of it; they still had to acclimate to the new surroundings here, because they just occupied the dormitories only a week ago, and maybe some daily rituals and behaviors changed because of it.

"Good morning." Seven greeted her.

" … eurgh. Mornin'" Sice grumbled in return, her mouth full of the foam of the toothpaste.

Getting a "morning" out of Sice was a miracle, so Seven didn't even expect a "good morning"; that would definitely be an odd thing and if it hadn't have a sarcastic undertone, she would have been very worried.

Seven came to a halt before she turned to her own sink and eyed Sice. The girl still wore her pajamas and together with the lazy brushing teeth and tired look, it screamed that Sice wanted to be in bed again. … Or she just wasn't a morning person.

But there was one thing that Seven noticed.

Was her hair always … that messy in the morning? And those spikes in the ponytail – were they always that pointy? And her bangs looked different … not that much as you would notice a difference at first, but there was a change, but Seven couldn't quite find out what it was. Was is always like this and she didn't notice it before? Or was it today really different?

"You done with staring?"

"Huh? Oh yeah." Seven turned her eyes away when she noticed Sice's stern look on her, as if she had done something bad, and faced the sink to finally start doing her morning routine. "I just … I just noticed that you hair is different than usual."

"What?" Sice looked up in the mirror and examined herself. She raised an eyebrow. There was nothing unusual; her bangs are in place, her ponytail is set up perfectly and the hair didn't bother her, so everything seemed fine. But Sice knew that Seven notices unusual things in other people, sometimes even before said person saw it on their own; it made Sice a bit concerned, but she shrugged it off, because she really couldn't find a difference. There was nothing unusual with her hair, it was always like this.
She shook her head and with that she continued with her morning hygiene.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Seven just hummed and dropped the topic, still unsure what to make all out of this.

-x-

The next morning started almost the same. Seven was surprised to find Sice again that early up. But then again she did too yesterday, so maybe she tried out a new sleeping schedule for this new situation. Seven greeted her with a "good morning", but this time Sice only nodded to her through the mirror and for a brief second their eyes met.

It was only short, but Seven could still see those light blue eyes that looked directly to her, or more like in her. Were they always that blue? This icy blue color reminded her of the sunny blue sky from where she was a little kid, even before Arecia took her in. She felt losing herself thinking about that particular color … it stung in her heart and she immediately clenched her fist over her left breast, not knowing what else to do.

Seven only snapped out of her dream world when she realized that Sice was again staring at her through the mirror and she narrowed her eyes, as if she was asking her what the hell she was doing. She shook her head to get her eyes away from Sice and went over to the sink beside her, with her heart still aching and being confused what just happened.

-x-

On the third day Seven didn't even bother to look up to Sice, who of course stood already in the bathroom like the previous two days. She didn't want to have another confused morning, though she still didn't even know why she was confused in the first place. Sure, the hair could have been a bit strange … but thinking about it now Seven couldn't remember what the difference was between the usual her and the hair she had two days ago. And the incident yesterday … well, she thought about it a lot over the day and tried to understand it, like she always want to understand all kind of thoughts. The only conclusion she came up with is that she missed the peaceful looking sky. With the war going on the sky was often filled with heavy smoke and made the sky more gray than anything else. Maybe it reminded her of better days – not that she remembered much of it – but it could be an option, and right now she stuck with it, because she couldn't explain it in a different way.

Seven mumbled a "morning" this time as she stepped in front of the sink to get on with her morning hygiene. She looked tired, she figured, but with a bit food in her stomach it would be alright. Sice didn't say anything as Seven accompanied her, she just shrugged and went on with brushing her teeth. It wasn't like she wanted to talk anyways, especially not with a toothbrush sticking in her mouth.

Things went on quiet and normal. Sice was almost done with her routine – she had to hurry up though, she didn't want to run in to even more class members – and in a hurry she didn't even notice that she accidentally dropped her hand a bit too far to her side and touched Seven's hand which lied on the surface on her sink. Sice immediately relocated the hand and didn't say a thing, not even a sorry, and carried on like nothing happened.

Well it was just an accident, but Seven still felt her hand on her own; the warmth of her touch still lingered and with that feeling the confusing came back from the days prior. Why had a single touch such a big impact on her, out of no where? She touched her before, well, that happens when you train together, but she never felt this fire before, not even when she was full of adrenaline and felt like her heart was about to burst from excitement.

But this here was different. It somewhat felt similar, but definitely not the same and that frightened her on a level she couldn't explain.

When Sice left the bathroom without a word – like usual – Seven came to a halt and recapped what just happened. She couldn't pin point it, only listen to the feeling she had inside her that left her confused.

And it would haunt her for the next weeks, she was sure. Because this was just the beginning.